Meaningful Movement

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Two Rowland Hall high school students wave a large sheet over a group of dancers in the Larimer Center for Performing Arts.
Large group of student dancers performing on stage
Rowland Hall Middle School dance students leap into the air while rehearsing for their annual dance concert.
A group of high school dancers hold another dancer above their heads during a Rowland Hall dance concert.
Two high school students dance at Rowland Hall's independent, private Upper School in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Dance

…isn't merely entertainment, but a soulful, skillful experience for
student-artists and audiences alike.

Olyvia Mugweh ’17 on dance at Rowland Hall: "Sofia helped me find myself as a dancer, and in that, I was able to find myself as a person."

Dance concerts often showcase contemporary movement, but as part of the curriculum, students also learn traditional styles. Here, upper schoolers channeled that knowledge to choreograph and perform this fun, kitschy, roaring-twenties tribute—a crowd-pleasing video intro for Rowland Hall's 2017 auction, the Great Gala.

Whether taking a dance class or becoming fully immersed in the choreographic, rehearsal, performance, and social aspects of our Ensemble program, aspiring and accomplished dancers find our program inspirational and deeply involving.

Professional dancer Sofia Gorder and her team direct and choreograph middle and upper schoolers across the full gamut of styles—from modern dance to musical theater, and from jazz improvisation to contemporary ballet. Every year, two dance concerts—one in fall, one in winter—energize our school community.

Programming

Rowland Hall offers a yearlong Lower School Dance Ensemble for second through fifth graders in our Extended Day Arts and Ensembles program. Once they're in middle and upper school, dancers are placed in Ensembles 1–6, but they're encouraged to reach across course levels and age groups to learn from one another. Dancers, after all, often work collaboratively to build something larger than themselves.

Sofia Gorder
Director of Arts and Upper School Director of Danceget to know sofia

Middle School

Middle schoolers work toward efficiency in movement through classical training methods such as ballet, jazz, and modern dance, as well as parkour, break dance, hip hop, martial arts, improvisation, and composition. The goal is to develop the following: the body as a tool for physicality; individual voice; technical skill for dance as an art form; and the ability to work collaboratively, negotiate the creative process, and perform.

Middle School electives

Upper School

As our students develop as dancers, so does the depth of the curriculum. In the Upper School, emphasis is placed on both proficiency and fluidity in a variety of traditional and contemporary styles. Every spring, senior dancers present a concert as the culmination of their Rowland Hall dance careers.

Upper School Curriculum

Dance Stories in Fine Print Magazine

You Belong at Rowland Hall